Albany’s battle of the blight

ALBANY — The latest snapshot of the city’s battle against blight shows that more than half of the 1,750 vacant buildings listed since 2006 are no longer abandoned — because they’ve been razed or are occupied — but the new report cautions that as many as a third of the 809 remaining derelict buildings may have to be demolished.

Of that 809, however, only 164 — or 20 percent — are registered with the city as required by law, the report says.

Wednesday’s vacant buildings census — the first since Jeffery Jamison was named head of the newly re-branded Division of Buildings and Regulatory Compliance last year — reflects, on paper at least, a nearly 100-building increase from the 707 reported in 2011.